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Relations between Beijing and Washington have dropped to new lows with the escalation of the trade war. The two powers have also become more and more confrontational on the military front. | AP Photo / Andy Wong
Morning of South China
The annual meeting scheduled for this month is postponed because the trade war is raging and the navies have almost missed the South China Sea
This story is published by POLITICO as part of a content partnership with the South China Morning Post. It was originally published on scmp.com on October 3, 2018.
A high-level dialogue on security between China and the United States has been postponed at Washington's request, Beijing said on Tuesday, as bilateral tensions mounted on several fronts, from trade to the military.
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The annual diplomatic and security dialogue, to be attended by US Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe, was scheduled for mid-October, said spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Defense. Foreign Affairs, Hua Chunying, in a statement posted on the ministry website.
"The US side recently expressed its wish to postpone the dialogue," Hua said, adding that the two sides would continue to "maintain communication" during the talks.
The statement came after the media had hinted that China had canceled the annual meeting.
The New York Times An unnamed US official said that China had declared Friday to the administration of US President Donald Trump that a senior military official would not meet Mattis.
Relations between Beijing and Washington have dropped to new lows with the escalation of the trade war.
The two powers have also become increasingly conflictual on the military front, particularly in the disputed South China Sea.
On Sunday, a Chinese destroyer nearly collided with the USS Decatur in the waters after carrying out what the Americans described as an "unsafe and unprofessional maneuver" meant to warn the American ship, which was sailing near Gaven Reefs, to leave the area.
The US Navy said the Chinese destroyer had moved within 41 meters of the US warship and the two planes nearly collided.
In addition, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on the equipment development department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army for buying weapons from Russia.
Washington also angered Beijing last month with the approval of a $ 300 million arms sale to Taiwan, an autonomous island that Beijing sees as a separatist province.
